Highly talented British No 2 Dan Evans could be in line for a recall to Great
Britain's team for the Davis Cup quarter-final tie against Italy in April

Dan Evans, the mercurial British No 2, is back in contention to be selected for Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Italy in April after team captain Leon Smith invited him to a training camp at the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton.

Smith was disappointed by Evans’s decision to fly home after the Australian Open rather than travel to the United States in preparation for February’s first-round match in San Diego.

But given the shortage of convincing back-up for Andy Murray, Smith knows he would be ill-advised to blackball one of his most talented players. Evans has climbed into the 120s in the world rankings this season for the first time, and also reached his first ATP semi-final in Zagreb in February, beating German No 2 Philipp Kohlschreiber along the way.

Evans will thus be up for consideration again along with his two main rivals, James Ward and Kyle Edmund. Even if he is not picked for the team, he is likely to travel to Naples in a week’s time to prepare for what will be Great Britain’s first Davis Cup quarter-final since 1986.

Realistically, it would be a major feat for any of these back-up players to win a point on Italian clay, perhaps even more impressive than Ward’s dramatic five-set victory over American Sam Querrey in the previous round.

This means that the pressure will be back on Murray to claim a perfect three-point haul, just as he did in Croatia last September in the promotion play-off match.

This has not been an encouraging time for Murray, who has parted company with his coach Ivan Lendl. But since that glorious day at the All England Club last summer, his best performances have come in the Davis Cup – a team competition that allows him to reset his goals. Almost everyone in tennis agrees that Murray has found motivation a problem at regular tour events since he achieved his life’s goal at Wimbledon.

“From what he’s said to me, Andy is really up for it,” Smith said on Friday, “and the prize of a big home semi-final is something that really excites him. He always enjoys the team environment and it sounds like he is looking forward to it.”

Italy have a strong team with Fabio Fognini, who is just nine days younger than Murray, at No 14 in the world and Andreas Seppi at No 33. When they beat Argentina in the first round, Fognini won all his three matches and teamed up with Simone Bolelli to claim the crucial doubles tie.

“I know that when I play against Andy I have nothing to lose,” Fognini said on Friday. “Normally in these matches I play my best tennis. I hope the crowd is loud because it’s going to be a really hard weekend. Both teams have a good opportunity to play semi-final so it’s going to be interesting.

“I think we are in good shape and really good friends together in the team,” Fognini added. “I like playing with Bolelli because he can play really good but he had surgery on his wrist. He has recovered well but after surgery you need time to recover. We are playing doubles here in Miami. He is fit, he won one Challenger event one month ago.”

Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association has appointed a new commercial director in James Mercer, who has been working in rugby league but was a nationally ranked junior in his youth and performed a similar role for the International Tennis Federation in the early 2000s.